


Divine Ideas From A Demonic Mind: Buffy Edition

by TheDivineDemon



Series: Divine Ideas From a Demonic Mind [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: All stories are on the rough side in plot and writing., Gen, One Shot, Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:39:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12339255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDivineDemon/pseuds/TheDivineDemon
Summary: A series of One-shots to get rid of the over flow of ideas in my oxymoronic head. Hope you enjoy the chaos. *Mostly Xander Centered* If you feel like doing any of these feel free, just tell and credit me. I want to see these grow.





	1. Just a Bite

I've decided to Branch out to Ao3. I Hope I'm well received.

This is the first in a series of possible stories or ideas for stories that wouldn't leave my head. So I decided to write them down and see how they feel.

You guys can use any these ideas if you want, but if you do please tell me. I want to see these grow.

Please tell me what you think of each one. Be it praise or flame I welcome it.

Warning: All stories are on the rough side in plot and writing.

*edited by Oxnate*

Just a Bite  
-0-0-0-0-0-  
Faith was tired.

First, she got her ass kicked, kicked some ass, then she popped a decent cherry, and then after she got her ass kicked again stopping an apocalypse. It was a pretty wicked day all things considered but at the moment all she wanted to do was go back to her room, take a nice long shower and fall the fuck asleep.

But the sight that greeted her as she walked up to her door stopped any plans of that.

Blood.

A lot of it.

Coming out of a guy who was leaning against her door.

"Shit," She mumbled to herself, half stunned at the sight in front of her, and another half worried. If it was because of the injured guy or the fact he was probably attracting vampire attention from blocks around. But as she got closer and noticed who it was she started to have a different plan of thoughts.

"X!"

Shit.

What was he doing here?

What happened?

How did he get hurt?

Was she going to get the blame?

The prone figure of Xander Harris unsteadily raised his head to look up at the voice before smiling. "Faith!" The loss of blood was making him loopy... well loopier than usual. "There you are! I've been waiting for you!"

He tried to stand but found himself falling to his ass. Faith took the remaining steps over to him to help him up. "Geez X, what happened to you?"

Seemingly unhearing of her question he kept one talking, "Sorry. I wasn't this weak a minute ago. I managed to drive here fine enough" Now that she thought about it she did see a car crookedly double parked in the lot, "I even managed to get to your door, but you weren't there. So I waited but everything went black and then there you were!"

Faith shook her head while she unlocked the door to her room, it was probably better to get him inside before something tried to make them into a midnight snack.

As she sat him down on her bed his eyes started to focus in and out like he was about to fall asleep at any second "Hey," she said snapping her fingers in his face "Hey! X stay awake. You need to tell me a few things before you haul off to la la land."

"Okay." He said blearily, extending the o more than necessary.

"Alright." she said pausing a moment to wonder what question to ask first "First we better see where you're hurt. So where are you bleeding?"

"I'm bleeding?"

Things weren't looking too good. He was probably in shock or something like it. She didn't know, she wasn't a doctor. So she just sighed and told him to take off his shirt, half expecting a stupid comment to come out his mouth.

It didn't come. He just obediently pulled off his T to show multiple puncture wounds on his shoulder. "Damn, what happened to you?" she asked while going to get her first aid kit.

"Zombies, I think... there was a bomb... something big and hairy... I can't really remember it all... It's fuzzy... Hard to think." He answered unsurely before hissing when the girl poured peroxide on his wounds. Faith just shook her head and wondered what the hell he was up to when she kicked him out earlier. Speaking of which.

"Why did you come here? Why not B's or the Hospital?"

His answer surprised her "Cause you don't think I'm worthless."

"What?" It was an automatic question. One that comes when you're surprised, something you don't mean to say out loud but comes anyway.

"Buffy thinks I'm worthless. Says I can't fight. Says I'm normal. Says I'm weak." While Faith would lean towards the normal comment nothing else really seemed to fit him. Sure he was a little klutzy in a fight but still got the job done. The only real problem she saw was the fact he seemed to have a death wish by jumping into the middle of the fight. It was nice that he wanted to help but he was not built to take as much punishment as the rest of them were. "And I didn't want a lecture so I didn't go to her... besides it'd probably freak Mrs. Summers out."

Faith gave a short snort at both mental pictures, even if the second one was more for the way he said it. "And the hospital?"

Xander shrugged, pissing Faith off since she just started to wrap his shoulder. "They'd call my parents."

"And that's bad because?" She may not be big on her own folks, her mom a druggie and her dad in jail, but she figured others actually liked their parents.

"Town drunk and town whore." He said cheerfully "They'd yell at me for interrupting something or other. And I didn't want to risk death by a drunk driver tonight... or getting yelled at for missing a trick."

Okay, somebody in the peachy clean Scoobies that had some shitty parents beside her, go figure.

She tightened her sloppily made bandage before pressing her earlier question "And you came here why?" she still didn't get it. He probably could have gone to Red's or even Jeeves but he came to her. Probably back for another roll.

Xander worked his mouth trying to make himself coherent "You're... like me... I think? We take stuff and try our best to keep going. We don't break, we can't break. You'd understand, you wouldn't think I'm worthless... would you?" It was obvious he was saying the first things that came to his head. She hated to admit it but it was kind of sweet having a guy so open to her.

"Goofy, yes. Worthless, no." Xander gave her a silly smile. "You good?"

"Tired. Can I borrow your floor?"

"Um...Sure... I guess." She said unsurely. Mostly because she figured when he woke up in the morning, hopefully, more coherent, there would be a long awkward moment... and maybe a good story. "Want a pillow?"

-0-0-0-0-0-

Maybe if Faith wasn't so tired or worried about her maybe a friend and used sex toy she would have noticed that his wound on his shoulder was a bite. A very large dog like a bite or more specific a werewolf bite.

So she had no idea what was going on inside of Xander at the moment, even people who knew he was bitten would be at loss at what was happening inside the boy's body.

The young pup of a wolf demon found confrontation as it tried to set up shop inside its new host. Crumbs, leftovers, scraps of another animal lay in the boy. It was old and feral, certainly a force to be reckoned with at full strength but now it was weak. If the pup was sired by a wolf even a year older it would have won, it probably could have won now but somehow the animal spirit won. Taking over the young demon and forcing itself to take over the role it should have played. It was no longer a demon but a spirit and maybe, more importantly, it was no longer a wolf but a hyena.

And now the newly revived spirit went onto its newly acquired job and started to change the boy from the inside out, in both magic and flesh. But like the wolf pup before it, the hyena ran into something it wasn't expecting.

Hidden inside the boy's flesh was something else. A predator that never fully grew, a mindless killer that didn't mind the change. In fact, it started to grow with the hyena's changes, giving itself entirely to the cause of hunting. And the hyena wasn't going to complain. It took the power and wormed its way through the boy's mind, making a home for itself inside what some would call the Id.

It was one with the boy now.

It and the boy were strong now.

A monster just waiting for the next hunt to come along.

-0-0-0-0-0-  
The next morning Xander woke up with a groan and a heavy body.

He tried to get up but he soon fell to his face "Ouch."

"'You okay there Stud?"

Xander angled his head enough to see the voice and was mildly surprised to see Faith, "Faith? Why are you in my room?"

Faith snorted, "Sorry to disappoint you but you're in my room. Dragged yourself here bloody last night."

Xander twisted his head a bit more to look around the room, "Huh, how bout that."

"So, how's the shoulder?"

Xander tried to rotate it but it was like a rusted gear, "Stiff" He tried to sit up again but found himself with a lack of energy to do the act. Though, to his surprise, Faith did help him up into a sitting position against the bed.

"Better?" she asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Yeah."

"So exactly what happened last night?" Seeing an unsure look on his face she pushed, "Oh come on. You show up at my doorstep, bleeding, in the middle of the night speaking damn near gibberish and I had to bandage your ass up. I think I deserve a story."

Xander mauled it over for a minute but eventually nodded and started to tell her about his night. From the girl who liked his car, to being forced to be a wheelman for a group of deranged zombies, to the eventual battle in the basement.

"After he disarmed the bomb we did the whole end quip thing between bad guys and good guys. Apparently, he didn't want to leave it till later so he jumped me. We fought for a while... I think I was winning... which is weird." Faith actually didn't think so. X had been fighting Vamps and demons with them for a while so something at human strength shouldn't have been much trouble for him. "But then something jumped us. Big, hairy... it got me in the shoulder but I kicked in the balls... Isn't it funny how that works on everything? I mean show me one male of anything that that doesn't work on. One swift kick to the groin and down he goes!"

Faith gave a sage nod, "Yea, saved my ass a few times. Works on girls too."

Xander looks at her astonished, "Really? But you guys don't have... well you know."

"Still hurts like a bitch. Now story."

"... Not really much to tell. It all kind of gets fuzzy after I raaa... oh shit!"

Faith jumped, "What?"

"The bomb! It's still in the boiler room!" Xander made a jerky motion and slowly started to rise.

"Whoa, hold your horses there big guy." Okay, he wasn't that big but there was some halfway decent muscles there, "I don't think you're in any kind of shape to be doing anything."

"But, but, bomb!" He strained again but found he could barely stand and Faith's light push sent him sprawling to the bed.

"And you can barely move. Just tell me where it is and I'll take care of it." Come to think of it, he never did say where all this went down.

"I can do it, really"

"X" she drew out the letter and gave him a stern gaze.

He grumbled something.

"What was that?"

"The school boiler room." he answered sulkily.

Faith paused as she connected several dots, "You've got to be shitting me."

"No."

"X, let me see your shoulder."

Xander shrugged and turned the shoulder towards her. He watched as she hesitantly unwrapped his bandages like she wasn't looking forward to what she was about to see. Maybe his shoulder was worse than his stiffness was telling him it was, so he looked on in interest as she uncovered the wound.

It actually didn't look half bad. The bastard probably only got a shallow hit on him. It actually looked like it was mostly healed already.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit." Faith said over and over again as she started to pace across the room.

Okay, now she was worrying him "Uh, Faith, what's wrong?"

Faith looked at him and started to take in some calming breaths, "X, we locked wolf boy in the boiler room last night."

"What does that..." Xander could be called slow, he could be called lazy, but he was not stupid, "oh." he said weakly, understanding what she was implying.

"Look, X, you stay here. I'll take care of the bomb and get the whole gang,"

Xander interrupted her, "Don't tell them."

"What?" She asked confused.

"Just lie or something, please. They don't need to know. This can stay between us. Just give me a minute or two and I can take care of it." They didn't need to know, they weren't pack any longer. They abandoned him, they pushed him out. No longer pack.

Xander didn't even notice his new train of thought he just went with it, "Please."

Faith wanted to tell the others, partly because after the whole fake watcher thing made her wary of secrets and another part because it was a pretty cool story. But he was begging her and putting on a damn puppy dog pout, "Come on X, I need to tell them something."

"Why? Why do they need to know anything?"

Was that a growl? She wondered. That wolf demon must have been making quick work. "I don't know how to take care of a bomb Xan."

"I do. Just," He grunted as he tried to move, "Give me some time."

"X, come on. Just let me tell them about the bomb. You can tell them about the bite at your own pace" She tried to reason and failed.

"They don't need to know nothing!" Abandoned, pack less. "They deserve nothing."

"X! Come on! Bomb!" Faith screamed at him, "We need to take care of it! The bite is your business I get that" She honestly did, despite her new hate for secrets she knew some stuff you wanted to keep close to the vest. "But we need to do something!"

Xander looked away, grumbled but he eventually nodded.

-0-0-0-0-0-  
Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies had met together after school discussing what happened last night and what they found in the boiler room.

"So what, their backup plan was to blow us all up?" Buffy asked

Giles shook his head, "No... The sisters didn't seem to know much about modern warfare so making a bomb would be out of their range of knowledge."

"Outside help?" Oz asked if only slightly distracted by the bloated feeling he'd had all day.

"Perhaps."

Just then Faith came through the doors, "Hey guys. some shit went down last night."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we know Faith. The whole Hellmouth thing opening was a big hint to that."

Faith scowled at the girl, "No. I'm talking about the gang of Zombies that tried to blow up the school. I need help getting rid of the bomb."

The group sat in silence for a moment before bursting with questions. At first she tried to make sense of the mesh of questions being thrown at her but eventually, she just gave up, "Would you all chill-out! Please!" It was weird how this group seemed to be on a switch when it came to sound, except for the werewolf. He always seemed to have a cool head. "Okay." she said while doing a quick Eeny meeny miny moe in her head before deciding to screw it and just pick Giles, "G, questions?"

The middle aged man nodded in recognition, "Yes, well, how did you know about the bomb?"

"X showed up at my doorstep bleeding from a lucky shot the boss Zombie, O'Toole or something like that. Got the story from him." Faith said easily enough. A nice easy lie that was close enough to the truth that the others would probably believe her. They did but again they, well more like Willow and Buffy, exploded forth with demands for information.

"He was supposed to stay home!" Buffy yelled, almost indigent.

"Well, he didn't. And personally, I'm kind of glad he went out. You know with the whole not being a dead thing and all."

Oz nodded, "Good point" While he seemed to concede the girls didn't.

"Why did he go to you?" Willow asked a little bitterly. She was over her friend, she really was, she hoped. She had Oz, but he should have come to her. They had been friends since kindergarten for crying out loud! If he was hurt he should have come to her.

"Seemed pissed at you guys for some reason or other." She said with an uncaring air, "Didn't even want to tell you but he was too stiff to move. I had to force him to tell me where the bomb was and promise to stay in bed."

"Stay in bed?" Came an irritating question from Cordelia. "As in you two..."

"Can we just get to the bomb already?" Faith exasperated.

"It's already taken care of," Giles said but the glare he received told him that wasn't the best news he could have given.

"Yeah, well, good. If there's nothin' else I'm splittin'." She did her best to ignore Red's and the Queen's muttering.

-0-0-0-0-0-  
"Well, that was quick," Xander said as Faith re-entered the room.

"Yeah, they were already taken care of it." She said kicking off her shoes and slamming down on the bed next to him, mildly amused by his squirming to her close presence. "But I would be waiting for a harpy yelling come at you in a triple threat."

Xander moaned in pain and it wasn't because of his shoulder. "Great"

Faith snorted at his dismay. "So, you feeling better?"

"Still a bit stiff." He answered honestly but he voice sounded distracted as his nostrils flared. Something smelled nice. "Tired."

Faith gave him a concerned look, "I know you're probably a wolf now and all but do you think we should take you to a hospital?"

"Nah, I'm good." It smelled really good, "Thanks for not telling them about, you know, the Oz hickey."

Again Faith laughed. "No problem." She was quiet for a moment, "So feeling wolfy yet?"

"Pfft" Xander tried to restrain a laugh but it came out, "No, don't feel wolfy yet."

"But you will." It wasn't a question.

"Probably" Oddly he didn't have a problem with that. He wouldn't be the normal one anymore, he wouldn't be the worthless one, useless. They tossed him aside, he was no longer their pack.

But Faith was pack, right?

"You know you have to tell them sometime. At least for the cage."

"... Maybe," he said thinking that they could find something on their own but would go along with her. After a minute or two of silence, he hesitantly asked, "Can I borrow your floor again?"

Faith shrugged, "sure."

-0-0-0-0-0-  
The next day he was still stiff but good enough to go to school. Though Faith seemed to think he needed to be walked to his house, for a change of clothes, and walk him to school. It was nice.

A very pack like thing to do.

She dropped him off near the front of the school before moving off on her own. Probably to check in with Giles or say hi to Buffy.

"Later Faith."

"Peace X."

Getting his books out of his locker proved to be a problem. His right arm was too stiff to move to get to his math book and his efforts must have gone noticed because soon enough a slender hand reached up and took it for him. Turning towards the hand's owner he found himself confronted by the teenage front of the Scoobies. The not-pack.

"Hey, Xan." Buffy greeted holding up the book for him to take. He did so hesitantly and gave her a nod in greeting.

"So, we heard you were busy a few nights ago." She tried to start.

"So were you." His tone flat and dismissive, causing some of them to wince. Oz just stared at him in confusion, what he was confused about was anyone's guess. Though Xander had a good idea.

"Look, Xander..."Buffy trailed off. Honestly, she didn't know where this conversation was going. She was honestly just hoping he would make a joke or a quip but he seemed so... voided towards them. It was weird.

He cut her off before she could say anything, "Can we just do this later?"

He didn't wait for a response before moving on.

Oz didn't give the last word till a minute later, "That was weird."

-0-0-0-0-0-  
They never did get a chance to talk to each other later as he kept on avoiding them throughout the day and growing into the week. The only times they did see him was with Faith and when they asked her she just said he was still pissed. And when anything involving patrolling with Xander or the bedroom came up she told them to piss off and mind their own damn business.

It didn't earn her brownie points with the Scoobies but who cared. She and X were making their own.

"So how's the new Watcher?" Xander asked conversationally as they walked through the cemetery.

"Not evil. Which is a plus but he has a stick shoved so far up his ass I think it's picking his nose." Xander snickered, "Anyway, evil demon in town with sword fighting vampires, want to help a girl out?"

"Sure."

-0-0-0-0-0-  
Xander was flicking through the channels of his now shared motel room waiting for Faith to get back with her patrol with Buffy. It was one of the little peace offerings the now split Scoobies had. He didn't like it though. Faith was his pack, the old pack would hurt her like they did him. Abandon her.

He wouldn't.

So when Faith came in looking numb be was instantly on his feet.

"Faith! Faith what's wrong."

"I'm bad X. Really bad." She said collapsing into his arm as he wrapped her into a hug.

"Just tell me what happened"

-0-0-0-0-

"By order of the Council-"

"Get, away, from, her!" Xander yelled as he was restrained by one of the Wesley fucker's thugs. The bastard called a hit squad on his Faith! She was sorry! It was an accident! It wasn't even her fault!

That stupid blonde! She blamed everything on Faith!

When he got free the first person he was going after was Buffy, okay, right after he tore that stick out from that Watcher's ass and started beating him with it.

"Would someone please gag him."

Gag him? Oh, so not going to happen.

He struggled harder and harder, fighting against the thug restraining him. He dug deep for strength, deeper and deeper until he touched it.

And the world met a monster.

AN:

Okay that was longer than I thought it would be. I just wanted a rough plot on paper and then bam all that showed up. I'm not even sure where I would be going with this idea but I even have a decent idea of what Monster!Xander would look like. Pretty sure it's scary.

Through the Hyena spirit leftovers killed the wolf demon and began the change the shark DNA did a large amount of the work.

The creature will have elongated arms, canine legs, and a hyena’s maw but it will be hairless. Instead of the fur one would expect this creature will be covered in rough shark scales that were warm to the touch, giving him an almost reptilian dog like appearance. Often compared to a raptor or dragon.

Debating if he has a tail and if he does it’ll be short, less than a foot long.

He is larger than the average were wolf due mostly to the shark DNA exaggerating his size and spotted hyenas at their largest are bigger than a grey wolf, though on average they are about the same. Also noticeably heavier.

Though its maw is of a hyena and its main batch of teeth are of the same bone crushing verity it has two more rows of small flesh tearing teeth, one if front of and one in back.

His posture is more hunched than a were wolves, his longer neck usually more forward and leading.

On its back is a small but noticeable dorsal fin between its shoulder blades. It peeks out constantly due to his posture.

In this form Xander is also outrageously strong, spotted Hyena having more compacted muscles than grey wolves that should be obvious. He is nearly twice over as powerful as he was possessed, due to both the full bestial form and the added support of the shark.

Due to still having the hyena/kinda human reflex of having hair stand on end when attack of feeling threatened it the scales on the creature’s body causes seemingly unnatural waves along the surface when it growls.

It will make the normal sounds of a hyena but the will be deeper and distorted.

Anyway tell me what you think of my first story idea.


	2. Face Paint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All It took was a conversation and a swipe of face paint to change the course of a Halloween Night.
> 
> Buffy/Dragon Age II

This is actually a response to an old Challenge but I still like the idea.

-0-0-0-0-0-  
Title: Just Face Paint  
-0-0-0-0-0-

“Yeeeah, I’m not buying it.”

“What?” Buffy asked as she closed her locker, Xander leaning next to it and Willow just behind her as they waited for her to collect her things so they could head to lunch. She had just finished her mini-rant about how unfair Snyder was being and how the troll of a principal had ruined the one day the nightlife would give her a day off.

“I’m just saying I don’t think things are going to be as quiet as you think tonight,” Xander said with a shrug as the herded themselves to the lounge.

“Well, according to Giles tomorrow’s ‘stay in and watch a movie’ night for the undead. And he tends to be right about these things, what with being a Watcher and all.” Buffy snipped out, her ruined mood lashing out towards her friend just a bit as he seemed to poke more holes in her possible relaxation time.

“And when has anything like that worked for us before?” He asked rhetorically, deciding to take a seat with the girls instead of getting a drink like he planned. “I mean, think about it! Every time we try to do something that should be safe something spooky pops its head out to ruin our day!”

“Xander, I think you’re exaggerating again,” Willow said, trying to take charge of the situation and maybe cheer up her only girlfriend with any silver lining she could find.

“Oh come on Wills, you know I’m right” He raised a hand and started to hold one up for every example he could think of, “Cheerleading tryout, a substitute teacher, a trip to the zoo, a new internet buddy, a talent show, parent-teacher night, a foreign exchange student.” He stopped giving examples when he realized he was running out of fingers, “All things that were supposed to be nice, safe and normal that blew up in our faces. And since Halloween is an excuse for humans to act like morons I don’t even want to know what those wacky vampires are going to be up to.”

Buffy’s shoulders slumped as she realized her friend was probably right. Giles may know book smarts and demon traditions but Xander could usually point out the obvious thing that they, sometimes purposely, overlooked. Damn him and his pessimism.

“Well, at least we can still have fun picking out our costumes.” Willow offered, nudging Buffy slight as once again she tried to cheer up the Slayer up.

“I say something with a big sword. Just in case.” Noticing Willow’s glare for the first time all Xander could say was, “What?”

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

Apparently, Xander had said something wrong earlier. He didn’t know what, as he was trying to be serious for once, but he was used to eating his foot. He’d give them a few hours to cool down and then apologize, until then though he was stuck searching through the new costume store for something he could follow his own advice with.

While just going as a soldier and packing a few stakes in his belt was an option it didn’t have the oomph he really wanted. Besides, it was Halloween. Probably the one day of the year where they wouldn’t have to hide their weapons in overstuffed backpacks and duffle bags.

Unfortunately, he was unlikely to afford anything more than twenty dollars, twenty-two at most, and that’d mean no lunch or Bronze for him for a few days, maybe even a week.

Turning down the medieval section he began to wince just by glancing at the price for some of the knight armors. Seriously? Forty dollars just for a fancy chest plate and helmet? What kind of idiot would buy that?

… Okay, he would if he had the money but that was beside the point. The point was he didn’t have the money to get anything fancy, having to settle for bottom shelf items and hoping for the best.

Hunching over he started to shift through the cheaper costumes his eyes eventually fell onto a Robin Hood costume. It wasn’t even one of those classic green tights with a funny hat version that he could convert into a Green Arrow costume, but one of those more ‘realistic’ ones with dark greens and deep brown cloth with a hood.

It wasn’t even that good. Just a cloth costume that didn’t bother with fake leather, plastic armor. Or even fake arrows. But it was cheap, barely more than twelve dollars.

It would do, though.

Plus, he was going to raid the library for weapons anyway so the lack of fake bow and arrows was really just a bonus. And he could use those work boots he uses when he helps his uncle Rory at the shop to make it look more like it was trying to be a pragmatic version of the costume instead of just being poor.

Plan and course of action set in mind Xander paid for his costume and made to leave the store but something in the corner of his eye stopped him. A pair of familiar looking girls skimming through the aisles, searching for something to wear for the following night. Coincidences seemed to be a rather common thing in his hometown, then again they probably just ran there after school like he did so there shouldn’t have been any real surprise.

Swallowing down a bit of nervousness he started to approach them, intending to apologize for whatever mess his mouth got him into earlier.

“Uh, hey guys.”

“Hey, Xander.” The girls chorused out in near harmony, showing none of the irritation from earlier that day. So maybe whatever he said didn’t dig him as big of a grave as he thought.

“Got yourself a costume already? Buffy asked after it became obvious Xander wasn’t going to say anything.

“Uh, yeah. Robin Hood.” He said a bit weakly as he waved the bag in front of him. That brief question seemed to be enough for him to push out his apology, so with a breath, he made his attempt. “Look, I don’t know exactly what I said earlier to upset you guys but whatever it was I’m sorry. You know how my mouth is, it just keeps on yapping and yapping until it says something that earns me a slap on the back of the head. So, yeah, wanted to apologize for the latest one of those.”

Both girls gave him amused smiles as he fumbled through his apology. It was cute in an awkwardly endearing way. Besides, neither of them were really mad at him, just at the point he made. Or Buffy was, Willow was upset over how he presented it with little care or notice on how it was affecting Buffy.

But he was male and such stupidity should be expected.

A sentiment Buffy shared and easily forgave as she waved her hand in front of her, “Don’t worry about it, Xander. You didn’t really do anything wrong, just pointing out how much our lives suck.”

Xander scratched the back of his head in both confusion and sheepishness, as he still had little clue what they were talking about. He said crap about that all the time so pinpointing exactly what he said was probably impossible. It could have been the Halloween thing he guessed, but at the same time, it was just as likely his comment about not being able to trust the manholes caused the brief cold shoulders.

“So, what are you guys thinking of picking out?” He asked, trying to delay and detain the awkward silence that would have descended.

“The classics!” Willow all but cheered as she held up a prepackaged ghost sheet, something that made Buffy cringe.

“Willow, are you sure you don’t want to try something a little more… well, better?” The blonde said trying to subtly convince her friend to try something different, something that might drag Xander’s eyes towards the red head and show him that she’s dating material.

“Hey, now I remember this!” Xander said, slamming his fist into his hand in fake realization. “Didn’t you go as that last year, and the year before that… and the year before that.” He was all for a costume change for the girl himself, she has gone through the same thing since they were ten.

It got boring, even if she could hide a small arsenal under that sheet.

Willow for her part just pouted as her friends seemed to tag team her for their amusement. She liked the ghost costume; it was nice, traditional, and safe. There was nothing wrong with that and they didn’t need to poke fun at it.

“Oh, come on Willow. Don’t be like that, I’m sorry, just drop the puppy glare.” Xander whined as he tried to shield himself from the kick puppy pout his childhood friend had on, hiding behind an amused Buffy to lessen the effects of the stare.

“Children behave,” Buffy said with a false authority while trying to restrain her giggles. She enjoyed the normal moments like that, a refreshing breath of air that let her momentarily forget what she was and what her responsibilities were.

Like a man trapped in a desert taking sips from a canteen and pretending to be at the beach.

Still, she needed to get the conversation back onto the ‘Willow gets a different costume’ conversation especially since she now had Xander backing her. But how could she play this? She wanted Willow to try something a little more adventurous but she wasn’t sure how to do so with Xander standing right next to her.

He was as much of a hindrance as he was helpful in this situation.

‘Then again’, she thought as she took a glance at Xander’s costume choice, ‘Maybe there were some options’

Tugging at the bag in Xander’s hand Buffy made her idea known, “Oooh, we could do a group thing. Like a dark ages thing. Like Dungeon and Dragons or whatever!” She said excitedly. She saw some of the things those characters wear and if it didn’t get the girls the desired reaction from the men they like little else will.

Releasing Xander and grabbing Willow she rushed them over to the medieval section with a bare, “See you later Xander!”

All said teen could do was a wave in confusion, “Bye… girls are so weird.”

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

In the end Buffy took Xander’s advice, deciding to go with a Joan of Arc look to go with her favorite sword from Giles’ weapon stash. As much as she hated to admit it her friend was probably right and even if he wasn’t it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

Luckily the costume she got at Ethan’s was one of those tight fitting fantasy armor deals that showed a bit of boob and hugged her curves instead of hiding them. So if she did see Angel he’d be seeing just what he was missing by letting his interest wander to that bimbo Cordelia. Admittedly she didn’t have as much to work with as the brunette but she knew how to work with what she did have, and she knew how to work it well.

Then there was the added bonus of her costume choice, along with Xander picking out some Robin Hood-like costume, allowed her to convince Willow to try something a little more… daring. Getting the shy girl to go with the idea of a group theme.

Nothing much, just a sexy sorceress outfit… Okay, it took a bit of convincing and a fair amount of trickery along with the matching costumes idea but she got the red head to agree.

It was rather amusing to watch the girl try to cover up her partially exposed thigh as they made their way to the school and into the library. Where, much to Buffy’s delight and Willow’s mortification, Xander was waiting for them with Giles.

“Hey, guys!” She said cheerfully as she watched Xander’s gaze hit back and forth from each girl, letting out incomprehensible words in greeting as he did so.

“Yes, now if you’re done breaking the poor boy’s mind would one of you mind telling me why you feel the need to raid the Weapons Cabinet?” Giles asked, purposely and pointedly looking the girls in the face.

Buffy shrugged her plastic armored shoulders, “Xander pointed out that even if it’s supposed to be quiet with our luck some super demon is going to pop out of the ground, so yeah, better safe than sorry. Besides, we picked out costumes that they’d blend in, see?” She did a little twirl.

Giles opened his mouth to give some sort of protest but it fell short on his lips as his mind wondered over the past year. He opened it again to say that they deserved a night to relax but closed it again as he realized on some level they were trying to be responsible, on some level.

“Fine.” He said reluctantly, “But do try to keep them in the sheaths. I have a hard enough time hiding our supplies here without people wondering why you lot are walking around with actual weapons.”

“Thanks, Giles!” Buffy bubbled as she walked over to grab her sword with Xander hot on her trail.

“Dibs on the daggers!”

Willow for her part just sighed and followed after her pointy object, obsessed friends.

-0-0-0-0-0-

The kids weren’t due for another handful of minutes at least so the trio of friends was just hanging around the student lounge waiting, talking about mundane and random things. Something Willow enjoyed immensely.

Back when… back when Jesse was alive these conversations would have been filled with guy things like comic books, sports scores, and girls. While she strangely didn’t mind the last one, which she put off to just being numb to it, it was nice to have a more neutral conversation.

Both Xander and Buffy seemingly uncomfortable, or at least hesitant to say anything too relationshippy with the other around. Either because of Xander’s dissipating crush, thank god for that by the way, or because of his hate for Buffy’s current, or attempted, beau.

“Oooh, I almost forgot!” Buffy said, breaking away from their conversation as she dug through her bag. “I thought, since we’re doing this whole Dungeon and Dragons dealie, that we should do it right.” Finally finding what she was looking for and held it out proudly.

“What’s that?” Xander asked rhetorically as he looked at the tube in her hand.

“Face paint!” Buffy gave a winning smile that started to wane as she saw her friends just weren’t as excited as she was. In fact, they looked rather confused.

“And why do we have face paint?”

“Because that’s what Dn’D people do… right?” She actually seemed nervous about that, Willow mused. She was trying to fit in with them and be a little geekier, something she did every so often and usually fell short.

Like now.

Willow tried to come to her friend's rescue and say that, yeah, she was right. But it came out in that usual stammer babble that she got when she didn’t know what to really say. Eventually, she did what she usually did in such situations, look at Xander and hope he’d save her.

So with a snort and a roll of his eyes, Xander took the paint from Buffy, putting a dab of the red paint of his finger and swiping it across Willow’s nose.

“Eeep!”

And then did the same thing to Buffy.

“Hey!”

And then to himself.

“Now we are ready for war!” His unoccupied hand raised in some sort of call for victory, looking so silly that the girls forgot their indignation and giggled.

And with that, the three teens with red stripes flicked across the bridges of their noses went to chaperone a bunch of screaming children.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 

Janus was a god of time. He looked into the past and future as easily as a mortal looked from left to right. Peering into the near infinite expanse at his leisure and entertainment.

Entertainment such as his jester of a disciple Ethan Ryane was giving him.

Ah, Ethan. One of his more devoted and entertaining of followers. Creating chaos through change for both their mutual entertainments. Sure most of the changes he invokes do not last long but they are amusing none the less.

Like his latest project. To turn that bastardized American holiday into a night to remember. Shifting all the costume goers into their characters for a night. Oh, just think of what the long term repercussions could be!

It was such an amusing idea that Janus decided to put a personal hand into a good deal of the transformations. Sure he was a bit lazy with some of the changes, such as just letting some old demon blood wake up in some children while in others he stuffed in some ancestors memories, but with others, he would do the research.

Plucking the information from the mind of the mortal to find out what they were supposed to be and then shifting through mortal history to find the best match.

Like he was doing for the Slayer and her little friends.

A warrior, a mage and an archer with red face paint?

He was sure he had seen something like that in, what, a decade or so into the future as some mortal game? Eh, he didn’t know and he didn’t care. It fit close enough.

And so attaching the three costumes to a game that has yet to even be more than a passing idea Janus moved onto the next costume with little care.

-0-0-0-0-0-

She/he/they felt off.

Like there were pieces of their self further down the black paved road even if they were complete and uninjured where they stood. Walking down the street he/she/they noticed that the source of the feeling was moving towards them too.

Eventually, he/she/they would meet, two earlier than the third but ignoring each other till the set was complete, and stood in a circle to examine those in front of them.

The first of them was a short blonde woman with hazel eyes and decorated armor, a long sword sheathed on her back.

Next was a red headed woman with green eyes wearing tight-fitting robes that showed off a good deal of her legs, she leaned casually against the staff in her hand as she looked at the other two intently.

And last was the only male of the group, his dark hair and eyes hidden in the shadow of the hood he dawned. He was also the most obviously armed of the three, with two daggers equipped to his belt and a quiver of arrows on his back to accompany the bow in his hand.

Each one of them had to wonder how could three people look so different, and obviously be so different, and yet feel so much alike. The only visible thing they had in common was a line of red paint over their noses.

And they felt, no they knew, that they knew each other but they couldn’t place their finger on how or where.

“So,” The sole male said breaking the silence jovially, “Where do I know you two lovely ladies from? The Rose perhaps? Hmmm, no? Fellow freelancers?”

The armored woman seemed to snort while the one in robes gave him an amused smile and answered, “More along the lines of a Freelancer myself but I can’t say I can place your face. Perhaps a name would help serah?”

“Ah, I bet it would!” The man said before giving an overly exaggerative bow, “Garratt Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall, at your service.”

“Okay, you have to be the worst knockoff I have ever seen.” The blonde said harshly as she glared at the introduced man, “You look nothing like me, and seriously, anyone who thought I was a man is going to get a serious talking to by my good friend here.” She gripped the handle of her blade for emphasis.

“And now I feel offended.” The man said easily but taking the threat with care, shifting his stance ever so slightly to prepare for the attack.

“Don’t you two think it’s probably better to focus on why three people claiming to be Hawke and more on where we are?” The red head said trying to prevent a confrontation.

“Oh, now you’re saying your Hawke too?”

She nodded and even gave a curtsy, “Marian Hawke.”

“At least she got the name right.” The blonde mumbled, trapped in random thoughts on the situation. Both on how she got there and why she couldn’t put up more of a protest that these were obvious imposters. It was like she knew they weren’t lying.

A familiar twang of an arrow being released ripped her out of thoughts. Snapping her head to where the sound came from she saw the male Hawke already nocking another arrow and looking intently in the distance.

Glancing over to see what he was staring at made her instantly unsheathe her sword, in the corner of her eye she could see the last of their makeshift group flaring with arcane powers.

Demons, dozens of them, in more shapes and sizes than she had ever seen. They ran about randomly causing chaos, destruction, and injury in their wake. But it seemed a small part of the swarm deemed them interesting enough to target.

“For the record I blame this weird dream on the Enchantment Soup I had before going to bed.” The man’s comment went somewhat ignored as the flock of Hawkes dove into the enemy with abandon.

They’d figure out what was going after everything was dead.

Just like usual.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

AN:

So in case it wasn’t obvious, or for those not in the know, this is a crossover with Dragon Age 2 with each of the Scoobies dressing as a different version of Hawke. Don’t own any of it.

Anyway, there are going to be longer term effects of ‘sharing the same soul’ even if it was only for a little while. One of them is probably going to be keeping a chunk of the skills and memory given, and another is going to a forced perception change of each other.

Not going to lie, if I do continue this idea it’ll probably end up in a B/W/X relationship. I enjoy them and there aren’t enough of them.

The Hawkes roughly (May need DA2 experience to understand):  
Xander Hawke is a rouge who hit the charming/joking button far too often, romanced to Isabella, and was likely the harshed on the blood mages.  
Willow Hawke is a mage Hawke who hit diplomacy as often as she could and slammed on the angry responses when situations deemed it, romanced to Merrill and was a dabbling blood mage till the loss of her mother.  
Buffy was a warrior who alternated freely between the angry and joking responses, she’s romanced to Anders.

All of them tried to help the mages. Each one also paired with the Love Interest the best appealed to them. Basically how things would have gone if they played the games.

Well, tell me what you think and peace.


	3. A Somebody There

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Dragon Age

-0-0-0-0-0-  
Story: I Was A Somebody There  
-0-0-0-0-0-

 

The elf and the mage watched in open awe as they watched the clash of legends. They had seen him in action in a few small battles that they had on their way there and he was impressive then too. Creatures that would have taken them hours to defeat or just outright kill them fell to his experienced hands like they were barely a challenge to him anymore. In fact, he seemed oddly enthusiastic when the Varterral jumped down from the building.

Finn and Ariane had been knocked out of the way quickly by the creature but he was practically dancing between the creatures five legs and stubbornly followed it when it tried to run away. He was almost terrifying to watch as he fought. Purple blood staining his gray and gold Commander's armor, an ugly snarl visible on his lips as he let out a battle cry and his two masterpieces of swords making a presence all in themselves.

Starfang's alien metal practically sang as it cut through the air, a cold energy crackled with power as it followed his swipe through. It's steely blue coloring a blur as it swirled in his hands, the unique curves of the blade collecting the thick purple blood of its opponent.

In his other hand roaring with fire was his sword Vigilance. The beautiful amber colored sword was basically breathing fire with every swing the Hero of Ferelden took. The dragon bone sword actually seemed to be screaming victory every time it seared the creature's flesh.

The two completely unique and powerful blades twirled in his hand with a practiced familiarity. Thieves across the land would chop off their left nut and arm to get their remaining hand on just one of those swords, and if they were lucky they got to keep that remaining hand.

It was almost disappointing how little drama there was when the creature finally fell, no fanfare, it just collapsed from its injuries and suffered a slow, painful death. The Warden spat to the side and tried to wipe as much blood off himself as he could, mumbling the whole time.

"C'mon." He called out to them with his strange accent when he was apparently satisfied. "Let's go."

His two companions nodded numbly as they followed him into the ancient building but for the life of him the Warden couldn't figure out what their problem was. Of course one must realize that he was used to fighting with people with near equal or greater strength and or skill than him. So to him, he was wondering why they hadn't taken more swings at the monster when they had a chance.

But all stray though disappeared from his mind as they entered the building's main cavern. It was eerily similar to the room where he killed the Mother nearly a year ago. His whole body tensed as his hands went for his swords, his eyes flickering around for a Darkspawn to come crawling out from the very cracks of the floor.

"What? Do you see something?" Finn asked a bit skittishly.

The Warden shook his head "No... The place just looks way too familiar for comfort." he said as he tried to coax his body to relax, making pointed observations how the two areas differed. "C'mon, let's keep going."

The large cavern was indeed different than it counterpart, less fleshy and lacking in the skittering sound of the Children. All he could see in the new cavern so far was barren moss covered ground and dragon bones, not that was settling him at all. But it was at the end of the cavern that grabbed the groups attention.

A lone island sat on a mass of water and on it held his goal.

She was just there in front of a large mirror framed by two giant stone elves, pacing as if she was waiting for something. He had paused mid-step just to stare at her, to memorize every little detail as if he was looking for pieces he had forgotten. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was.

His admiration was broken when Finn had started to rush forward "The Eluvian!" he exclaimed as his eyes landed on the mirror "And it's... Glowing!? We must," Finn went to take another step forward but Ariane stopped him.

The Warden barely registered their byplay as he watched his goal move. Her form swaying as she walked the steps up to the base of the mirror. Her finger's grazed the purple surface, causing ripples to form as she trailed them along. The woman paused for just a moment as she looked over her shoulder, verifying that he was there.

"I, I think she's waiting for you." The elf gently said as she had an idea on how much the Warden had craved this moment. The Warden gave a nervous nod that helped steel his nerves as he walked forward. "Remember to ask her about our book." She added as he walked away, trying to remind him why she was there but she knew that it was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

The Warden was forced to stop at the at the bottom of the steps with one simple sentence from her "No further please." She demanded in that roundabout way of hers "One more step and I leave, for good this time." Regret and longing plain in her voice telling him just how much she didn't want to leave.

Though his lips couldn't help but quirk up in the joy of seeing her and make one of his odd little quips "Hello to you too, Morrigan"

She didn't seem even mildly amused "I assume you know what this is. I have gone to great lengths to find and activate this portal. Give me a reason and I use it, and you will not be able to follow."

The Warden's eyes dropped for a moment, feeling more than a little hurt that she would leave again so easily, before coming back up to look back into her golden eyes "I didn't come here to fight you."

Her face softened from the hardened state she was forcing it to keep "I did not think you had." She said her voice again leaking her emotions before steeling herself once again "Now, tell me why you have come."

He told her honestly "I couldn't let it end like that." He couldn't just let her walk away, to just disappear with only a few words between them, to leave while she was pregnant. That moment when he realized she really did leave after the battle with the Archdemon had broken his heart.

Morrigan let out a snort "And you once argued with me that love is not weakness. I will never understand you. And you will never understand me."

"I'll never understand unless you help me."

Once again her face broke to her true feelings "I... I would not even know where to begin."

"Our child?" He suggested, asking for a thought that had been haunting his thoughts since she left.

"He is safe," So it was a boy, he had a son "And beyond your reach." Wait, what? "All you need know is that the child is an innocent. He knows nothing of the destiny that lies before him."

"That's not good enough." He gritted out, anger flaring for the first time since he entered the cavern.

"Because the child is yours?" She queried before nodding "I understand. I will not share my plan with you. If your trust is insufficient, then your anger will have to do"

His teeth still clenched and eyes narrowed "Plan? What are your plans for him? I want to know!" He felt slight shame when his mind started to compare her to her mother and the old woman's plans for Morrigan.

"My plan is to leave, and to prepare the child for what is to come. Such preparation requires time. And power. I must have both if I am to be successful. More than this, I dare not say." She paused as she gained control of her emotions "Even to you."

Still angered over the fact she didn't want him to see his child he accused her "You just used me to get what you wanted!"

Now her face fully broke to show how hurt and angry she was over what he said "I fought with you! I put my life on the line to aid your quest! And then the battle came too soon. I had no choice but to go to you, and I did not want to see you die. And here you stand, alive. So do dare not speak to me of betrayal" He had the grace to look aside in shame knowing that what she said was true "Now let me leave you with a warning." She said, venom still in her voice "'Tis Flemeth you should beware of, not me. Hunt her if you hunt anyone"

"Flemeth?" His anger fading away for shock "Flemeth is dead." He killed the old shapeshifting crone to keep Morrigan safe.

"My mother has tricked her way past death and more. She is no more finished than I am." She said, anger slowly leaving her form as she gave her beloved her warning. In fact, horror and fear started to worm their way into her heart as a dozen thoughts of what her mother would do to her precious Warden and child when she gained strength again "I thought I knew what Flemeth planned. I thought what she craved was immortality. And yet I was wrong. So very wrong. She is no blood mage, no abomination... She is not even truly human. The ritual was but a means to an end, a herald for what is to come."

The Warden's body tensed, his anger fading way for his own worry "What is going to come?" He asked, fully ready to do whatever he could to defend what was his and defeat whatever stood in his way. Just like he always did.

"Change" was her answer "Change is coming to the world. Many fear change and will fight it with every fiber of their being. But sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes change is what sets them free."

"Is that what you want?" He asked, dots trying to connect themselves "To be free?"

Her face completely lost her mask as half a dozen emotions swept over her face and her voice cracked "What I want... is unimportant now."

"Yes, it is Morrigan." He insisted "It's always been important."

She bit her lip and shook her head, trying to banish tempting thoughts "I cannot tarry longer. The time has come for me to go." she moved to step through the portal.

On impulse and desire, he stepped forward "Take me with you."

She paused, eyes wide as she turned to look at him "You.. cannot know what you ask. T’would be better if you stayed. For you, for me, for us both" Temptation and heartbreak mixed in her answer, her voice cracking as she tried to force herself to stick to her plan.

In her daze she never noticed him clearing the steps between them and slipping her slender hand into his metal covered one. "I want to be there for you, for our son, no matter what."

One sentence had crumbled what little resolve she had left as her fingers started to lace themselves with his "Then come, my love, let us face the future together." An earnest smile swept over her face as she finished her new vow by sealing it with a kiss. She knew her damn romantic Warden was mentally comparing this to a wedding, a duo of vows sealed with a kiss, but she would not be bound in such mundane ways... Without a lot of coaxing.

A dopy smile was plastered to his face as her fingers lingered against his armored chest. She let a satisfied look spread over her face at his expression before turning around once again towards the portal. A small thrill spread through her as she felt him walk next to her, maybe she could have what she wanted. Maybe she could have a family, to live happily with the man she loved and her child. Maybe it could be more than a foolish daydream.

She watched with amusement as he tentatively put his hand flat on the Eluvian's surface and watched the surface ripple like water. When he was done playing with it he stepped back and gave her a smile. An expression she returned as she took the first step forward through the portal with him following shortly after her.

Most would think that a portal instantly lead place to place, from one destination to another but the truth was there was a short path one must walk before getting to the other side. In truth, it was rarely more than five strides from one end to another but those five steps could be disorienting in the colorful void that it presented itself in.

In that void between worlds beyond their own and the fade the reunited lovers walked, only to be torn from each other once again.

Unnatural stands of deep red sprang from the colored voided and wound themselves around the Warden. He dug his feet into the ground and called out to Morrigan. The witch paused in sheer terror as she watched the red tendrils of energy try to claim her love. But she wouldn't let it end like that as she tossed spell after spell against the seemingly invincible red energy that was dragging her love away from her.

In a desperate attempt, she grabbed onto his outstretched hand and tried to pull his bulk towards the end of the portal. But in the end, she failed as the unnatural red energy forcibly pulled him away, leaving both of them yelling for the other.

"Morrigan!" He yelled, his hand clawing at the air and for her.

"Alexander!" Her voice shrill as it called out for him and her magic did a desperate tug of war with whatever was pulling her love away. The void gave silent shakes as she struggled against the force but she had eventually lost and was forced to watch her Warden disappear into the myriad of colors. Leaving her to her tears and rage.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

 

Alexander landed hard upon the ground, his armor loudly clanging with the impact and rattling him to the bones. Groaning he took a look around his surroundings and found himself with little to no clue as to where he was. The only obvious clue he had was that he was at ground zero for a recently burned down building, other than that he had no idea.

Shakily he stood and stared around trying to take everything in, looking for a hint of Morrigan. He knew he wouldn't find any trace of her after he was pulled away by whatever it was. With all the ingrained caution he had gained over the years he drew Starfang and made his way away from his landing zone.

There was something familiar about the wreckage but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Eventually, he found his answer when he left the wreckage and saw the rest of the town. Uniform buildings, artificial sidings, and light a dominant feature in all but in the back of his memory he recognized them and knew where he was. "I'm home?"

Five, even three years ago that fact would have filled him joy but now, after he had built a life for himself in Fereldan he felt lost, angry. "No, no, no, no." He growled out as his eyes battled whether or not they wanted to narrow in anger or widen in shock. What would happen to his men, his people? No, he trusted his lieutenants, they could handle Warden's Keep. His real problem was if Morrigan would wait for him now? Would he ever get to see his son?

He let out a howl of rage that jarred through the night, scaring away and attracting the various predators of his hometown. He needed to get back, he had to get back. He was just with her, he was about to have what he always wanted but it was stolen from him, someway, somehow, it was stolen from him.

He was getting back, back to Morrigan if nothing else. He would do it, no matter what it took.

The only problem was that this was a problem embedded in magic and he was no mage. He needed help, and he had an idea on who to ask but there were a few problems with that idea.

The first and foremost in his mind was that it's been roughly five years. Things change, people move on. There was a chance they weren't even in Sunnydale anymore. Willow probably at some big-name university with OZ, Buffy trying for the picket fence life somewhere while killing monsters on the side, and Giles... he didn't know, went back to England maybe. He could try Mrs. Summers but there came his second problem, he didn't remember Sunnydale.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember anybody lived, even his own childhood home.

So he quickly came up with a new plan. Find who might know, ask them, if they don't answer beat them up, if that doesn't work kill their friends and ask again. It's worked before.

And it would work again.

If he remembered right there should be something that knew was in one of the many cemeteries that littered the town.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

 

Buffy Summers was doing one of her usual wide patrols of the town. Summers were slow and honestly required little Slaying. Giles said it was the vampire's adverse reaction to the heat, whatever that means, and the few night hours. It was a nice little break before things got difficult again.

So her interest was piqued when a vampire, still in its game face, came stumbling out of one the cemeteries with frost and ash on its clothing. So naturally Buffy stopped him "And where do you think you're going?"

The vampire panicked when he saw who was holding him by his collar. He never saw her face to face before but her description was spread throughout Sunnydale. Blonde, blue eyes, short and could lift you like you were a house cat. When you see all those things in one girl you ran, hell it was the reason why vampires rarely went after blondes anymore. They did not want to be killed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"I swear I didn't tell him anything."

Buffy blinked "Tell who what?"

"The dude in the armor!" The vampire yelled, seeing an out to possibly surviving "He's tearing through graveyards asking about you and your friends. But I didn't tell him anything!" Mostly because he really didn't know anything... and he started to run away as fast as he could when one of his swords went on fire.

Buffy's eyes narrowed as she took in that little bit of information. Was somebody looking into the Scoobies? Did that mean a new Big Bad was in town? Already?

With a new line of determination, Buffy staked the terrified vampire before heading into the cemetery. She could already hear screams when she entered the area and when she entered she could see the reason for the screams.

There were only two vampires left, one as pinned into the ground by a steel blue sword screaming in pain as a light amount of frost spread around the wound and the other was sweating and scampering back from an armored figure with a flaming sword in hand. She, of course, focused on the last figure and how whatever he was set off her Slaydar something fierce.

"You will tell me what I want to know." He growled, advancing a step and placing it an inch away from the vampire's nose.

"I'm telling you, man! I don't Know anything!" It begged, "It's best just to avoid them you know?"

"Then you're useless." He barely had to thrust his shoulder forward as the flames of his blade quickly ate away at the undead creature. The figure then let out a "Tch" sound as he looked down at the pile of ash before moving on to the Vampire still pinned to the ground "So are you going to tell me what I want to know?"

When the vampire let out a whimper of pain Buffy moved. She didn't like it when people drew out kills, sure she made a quip in just about every fight she was in but she tried to keep it quick. Especially after her little bitch episode after the Master's defeat.

"Hey, tin man, looking for little ole' me?" She practically yelled as she made her entrance, gaining the armored figures attention. And when she did have it she paused for just a second to take in just how frightening the guy looked. Sure she dealt with vampires and demons all the time but there was just something off-putting about a man in a full set of armor with his face shadowed by his helmet. Not to mention the two obviously enchanted swords in his hands.

"Buffy?" He asked, almost absently killing his weakened opponent as he stood.

"That's me." she said, wishing she had something better than a stake to fight with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How would you like your ass kicked today?"

The man seemed confused and even a little worried "But... you can't be. You look so young."

"Hey! I'm 18 asshole." Buffy cried indignantly, she was not a kid.

His hand tightened around his swords as his voice became an emotional growl, "This can't be right."

Buffy almost jumped as her fight or flight instincts skyrocketed up. This guy was pissed about something but he still seemed to want to talk and not trying to kill her with his swords.

"How long has it been since graduation?"

The Slayer's head tilted to the side in confusion "Uh, I don't know... Four months?"

"No." it was almost whispered at first so she had barely caught it with her enhanced hearing but after he repeated it a few more times she could hear it clear as day. His body started to shake as the information processed to the point Buffy started to worry. "I need to see Giles."

But not that much, "Uh, I'm thinking no." Like hell was she letting something so wiggy near Giles, or anyone else for that matter.

"Buffy! Please! I forgot where he lives! I just want to get back!" he pled sincerely and confusing Buffy.

"You know Giles?"

The man sheathed his swords, which calmed Buffy's nerves to settle just a little, and took off his helmet, "Of course I know Giles." The face was familiar and so was the voice now that she thought about it. Both seeming older she was used to and features she didn't recognize, like a slight accent or a scar on his chin, appeared. But it was still enough for her to realize who it was.

"Xander?"

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 

The group sat in a very uncomfortable silence with the only clear sound filling the room being the echoes of the shower. The Scoobies should honestly be used to this having dealt with two similar situations in the past, one where Angel returned from a hell dimension and another where a vampire version of Willow wanted to return home.

But this was different, this wasn't some vampire copy trying to get home or a... friend? triumphantly, to some, returning. This was a friend returning home from wherever and wanting to go back. Or at least that's what most of them have heard. They had just arrived at Giles apartment and gained a brief summary of what was going on.

And not all of them were taking it well.

"But why would he want to go back?" Willow asked feeling a bit hysterical. She may have been on some rocky terms with her childhood friend when he left but that didn't mean she didn't want to mend their friendship. But if he went back she would never have the chance to do that.

"Willow, please remember it's been much longer for him than it has been for us." Giles gently reminded, "Things change over time, people grow and build lives for themselves. God only knows what he left behind."

"But look what he brought with him!" Buffy said as she held up a curvy blue sword, "So shiny!" She would have grabbed the brass colored one but she was pretty sure it growled at her.

"Buffy..." Giles said rubbing his forehead in exasperation, "Please don't swing unknown magical swords around my apartment."

"Aw," Buffy whined as she placed the sword next to the rest of Xander's things on the coffee table, giving the swords a lingering a glance before turning her attention back to the conversation.

"Can we do it?" Willow asked, before amending the sentence, "Do we want to do it?"

"I... am honestly unsure," Giles said, "The time with the Vampiric Willow was because of a time loop that Willow had accidentally created. We had the caster and could easily track back where she belonged. But what truly aided us last time will be a hindrance this time. People are attracted, or maybe it would be more accurate to say bound, to the dimension of their birth. They are drawn to it naturally, and the stronger the magical connection the more it pulls."

"Is that how Angel came back?"

Giles reframed his scowl. As much as Buffy forgave the ensouled vampire Giles never could. He was tortured by the vampire when he lost his soul and then the Englishman lost the woman he loved. He could stand him as an ally, barely, but he would never like him. And in honestly, soul or no soul, Giles wish the son of a bitch stayed in hell, "Perhaps."

"But we can?" Oz asked getting them back on track.

"It would be difficult. We'd have to pinpoint which reality Xander arrived from... a better question in my mind is if it would be worth it. We have already seen signs of the time difference in Xander and with how long this may take us it could be years before we could return him."

"So he doesn't go back?" Willow asked with poorly disguised hope.

"We could still try, we should still try," Giles said, remembering how desperate the boy... no, the man wanted to return.

Willow pouted and looked away, making it obvious she wasn't in support of the plan.

"I'm still not convinced it is Xander." After receiving looks from Willow and Oz she explained that he was setting off her Slaydar. "He said it was probably because of the order he joined. The Gray somethings." Giles interrupted with a simple 'Warden', "Whatever. Said they drank blood to track their enemies, which is eww. So it's kinda like when that demon bled on me, but he drank, which is again, ew. But can we trust that."

"Seeing as how he didn't try to kill you when you saw each other? For now, yes."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Giles." a familiar but deeper voice said as it entered the room. Willow scanned her childhood friends form, comparing and contrasting the him she knew from the him now. His skin was darker, hair longer, back a bit straighter and his shoulders broader. All these things could be considered normal in both shape and form but they made Xander not so Xander shaped anymore. And she wanted to know where the hell that scar on his chin came from and who was going to get a flying pencil to the eye.

But those things, along with the bit of stubble and water clinging to him, gave him that hot older guy looks that she knew Buffy was appreciating too.

"So when can you send me back?"

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

 

Xander wanted to kill something. He really wanted to kill something.

Giles had explained to him what was going on and what they were trying to do. He said that they would try but it would be difficult and would take time. The time that didn't synch with his new homeland's. Days in Sunnydale could be weeks there and there was nothing he could do about it besides bite his lip and wait.

But over the last few years, he had grown into a restless man. He always needed to do something, be somewhere. He could always find some menial quest or chore to do to occupy his time. But in the here in now of Sunnydale, he didn't have that. He had modern connivances that were now just novel luxuries to him. Things he remembered taking for granted but could live without now if needed.

Now a television couldn't occupy his mind, not when a feeling not unlike the approach of Darkspawn crawled through his mind. He could feel them, scampering underneath the ground, like he was in the Dwarven city of Ozammar again. He could ignore it easily if he wished but he was angry and bored.

So, with Starfang and Vigilance in hand, he left the guest room of Giles' apartment and began to show Sunnydale how a Gray Warden fought. Diving into the sewer system and spending hours hunting and fighting whatever jumped out at him. He'd give vampires one thing, they were faster than many things that he had grown used to fighting but rarely were they as strong. And they didn't even try to swarm him, he knew they were mostly solo hunters but they could honestly do better.

It was good stress relief though.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

 

He didn't know if he should feel bad about feeling so grateful about Buffy and Willow leaving him alone so they could go to college.

They kept on treating him like he was still Xander the class clown and recent graduate of Sunnydale High. He wasn't, he was a man of many titles but those were not in his top ten. He had lead men to their deaths and glory as they defended their homes and country. He had killed things that would make even Buffy flinch and even puke at the sight of. Hell, he probably had more kills than Buffy at that point.

He gained the respect of a nation, of kingdoms but in Sunnydale most of the time he didn't seem to live up to more than a joke.

He loved them, he honestly did. While he was trapped in Fereldan he missed them something fierce, they were the family he could never reach or touch again. But now that he was here he wanted nothing more than to leave. He wanted more than what he had in Sunnydale, what he was going to have before he was dragged away.

"Xander?"

"What!" He snapped and regretted a second later when he saw Giles shocked face "Sorry... What do you need?"

"I was just wondering what you would like for dinner." The older man said gently before pausing to force out his question "May I ask what's wrong?"

Xander opened his mouth and closed it as his mind gave a quick internal debate. He honestly didn't want to dump more on them but this has been weighing on his mind "I have a kid Giles." he explained as he twirled the wooden ring on his finger "A son. I was about to see him for the first time, ever when I was dragged back here."

The bed shifted as Giles slumped down, Xander didn't look at him, he just kept on twirling his ring "Why was that going to be the first time you saw him? Were you at war?" Giles asked thinking about the separation war caused, especially in the mid-evil settings that Xander's armor displayed.

While Giles thought that Xander almost let out a snort. He supposed a part of his lack of respect problem was because he didn't share enough of his life in Fereldan with his old friends. "No, we were before and that's why he was born."

"What?"

"We weren't at war with any old nation Giles." Xander explained, seemingly avoiding the conversation of his child "We were fighting Darkspawn, think the missing link between zombies and vampires. They usually stay quite underground until an old god is infected with their taint. That's when they all start to rally together to make everyone else's life miserable."

"Dear lord! A god?"

"Looked more like a dragon than anything but that was our big problem. They are a pain in the ass to kill and if you did kill the thing would just go into the nearest thing with the taint and re-grow. That's why the Warden's are needed, why we take in the taint, so that when we kill the 'Arch-demon' we absorb that old god soul and we die taking it with us. But... Morrigan had other plans."

"Morrigan?" Giles asked, a little dazed even by the limited information Xander was giving him.

"My... Lover" Yeah, that was the best term for her "She's a witch, the best damn one you'll ever meet." He bragged "Had a similar issue with Amy with her mother, except Flemeth had been doing it for centuries. We stopped the bitch from using her, though. Anyway, the original reason why she joined my group was to do this ritual that would save my life, but in the beginning, she didn't care about that. She just wanted the old god's soul. You know how witches are, they want to preserve everything."

"What does she want with the child?" Giles asked suspiciously and earned himself a heavy glare from Xander, even if the other man wondered that himself a hundred times over.

"She... wants to support change and support it as far away from her mother, who refuses to have the good grace to stay dead." Xander growled out "I hate her for leaving, for leaving before I could support her or see my child but... I still love her. We've been through too much for me not to."

Giles was silent but offered his silent and a bit confused support by patting the man's shoulder.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 

Xander wanted to growl as Buffy and Willow took him to the Bronze. He didn't want to be there, to be in that loud room filled with kids, kids who knew nothing about war and horror. Why couldn't he just got to a bar and get a nice stiff drink?

Oh, that's right, because the Xander they knew would never drink and because they wanted everything to go back to normal. Like Xander was 19 and not 24. He honestly couldn't take it and got up to leave.

"Xander? Where are you going?" Willow asked as she took her eyes off of Oz and his band.

"Back to Giles'" He said easily enough, wishing that guy Giles found would just hurry up and sell some of his golden sovereigns so he could have his own place. A little home at the edge of town, where he could visit but still have his space. Away from all the noise of the modern world.

"C'mon, Xander stay just a bit longer," she begged, reaching out to take his hand but he moved away.

"No, I just want to go back." He said, already planning to do maintenance on his armor and swords. "Have fun. Later"

Willow watched sadly as her friend walked away. She felt like she didn't even know him anymore. He was so quite now, sure he asked questions but they were almost all to the point, trying to delve deeper to find what he wanted. It actually made her want to cry sometimes. It was like he wasn't even Xander anymore.

"Hey, Wills." Buffy greeted as she came up to the table "Where's Xan?"

"He went home." She said with a pout.

"Again?" Buffy asked feeling slightly annoyed. Xander kept on leaving whenever they wanted to hang out. Sure he sat down to eat dinner with her and her mom when she invited him and watched movies with a glee that was a little creepy but when they went to the Bronze he always ended up disappearing. "We'll check on him later alright? But right now we deserve to have some fun without it being dampened by mister grumpy."

Willow hesitated but eventually gave a nod, "Yeah!"

Back at Giles apartment, Xander was polishing Vigilance's blade in the living room, enjoying the unheard purr from the blade. It was mindless and distracting work that he took some joy out of, especially when a well maintained kept him alive in the field. Putting the dragon bone sword to the side Xander picked up Starfang to start its maintenance.

So wrapped in his work he didn't notice someone pounding on Giles' door nor did he notice when Giles opened the door but he did notice when someone barged into the home. "Now see here!" Giles called after the woman who forced her way into his home. "You can't just..."

"Yes, yes. I'm a terrible person." The woman said flippantly as she strolled into the room. The sound of her voice snapped Xander's head up from his up from his sword to stare up her with wide eyes, "I've just come for what is mine."

Despite his shock, Xander couldn't help but remark "So you can claim ownership over me but I can't over you?" Giles blinked at the familiarity in Xander's voice, even with the broken tempo that it held.

"And that is why you wear the ring and I do not," She said with a smirk, her eyes softened as she saw his eyes roam from hers to the squirming mass in her arms. She crossed the room to reach her frozen love and took a seat next to him. "This is Kieran." She said gently, introducing Xander to the child "Kieran, this is Alexander, your father."

The toddler reaching the age of two stared up at the new man with his golden eyes, his head tilted to the side slightly in confusion as he reached up and touched the man's cheek. The man's rough and callused hand gently held onto that tiny hand "Hey little guy. It's great to finally meet you." The baby made a meaningless word as he gripped onto one of the man's fingers, tugging on it playfully.

"Oh look, the mighty Warden Commander is crying," Morrigan said with an amused but affectionate snort.

"Oh, be quite woman," Xander said with a smile as he looked up at her. Joy flushing over his face as he looked up at her and the feeling of his child tugging on his digit. "How?"

"The Eluvian was just... additional research to what I was already working on." She said, her free hand reaching out and cupping his cheek, which he leaned into, "A project I have found more than rewarding."

Giles shifted uncomfortably as he watched the reunion, feeling truly out of place. And a bit of fear when he realized just how powerful of a witch she had to be to traverse the dimensional walls and find Xander by herself.

Well, that and how Buffy and Willow would react when they saw this scene.

 

-0-0-0-0-0-

AN: I'm likely going to have to finish Inquisition before I continue this idea but I still do love it so.

Anyway, this is a crossover with Dragon Age Origins. Xander got sent there near the beginning of his road trip when he couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to stop a group of mages from making a sacrifice so they could go to the "Mage's Holyland" aka the Tevinter Imperium. Xander spent his first year there both working on how to get home and living off the jobs from the Chantry Board. After that, he was recruited by Duncan and basically did the game and its DLCs.

I'm debating making a combo of a rogue and a warrior from the game. As he is an actual person and not a class he wouldn't need to turn down companion's, ancient tomes or NPC attempts to tutor him. But then again I might just keep him a warrior to keep things simple.

The story could go a few ways but I'm kind of liking the idea of Morrigan having to get used to the modern world and how The Warden and The Witch effect S4. Especially when you consider how interested said Witch would be in Buffy!verse's magic and the trouble that would cause.

Flashbacks are likely going to be a strong part of the story. Showing scenes like when he wanted to be there for Morrigan while she gave birth, and the ring made him know when it happened.


End file.
